Digimon 2: Falling Apart
by Sarie Cigam
Summary: A story about a new digidestined and her three digimon partners. Set in the time after season 02, has nothing to do with season 03. PG-13 for language, violence, and adult themes.
1. Default Chapter

Mammoth Mountain, CA, approx. 10 years after Owikawa's defeat...

A 17-year-old girl sat at her computer desk, one foot resting inside an open cabinet, the other resting on its toe beneath her chair. She absently flipped back her amber-colored hair with one hand and continued tapping away at a keyboard in front of her. On the bed beside her, a silver-and-gold Turkish Van cat curled contentedly on a pillow. Beside the Turkish Van sat something akin to a large, yellow, toothed frog in tiger skin. Cy the Gabumon watched the girl's computer screen intently, her clawed feet dangling over the edge of the bed.

"Sarie, why are you looking for a way into the digital world when you could just buy a ticket and go there?" Cy asked the girl.

"Why should we pay a hundred bucks a pop just to go somewhere we should be allowed to go for free?"

Cy looked as if she were about to object, but just sighed and shrugged her blue-striped shoulders instead. "All right, but if you get caught..."

Sarie looked back at her Gabumon, half-exasperated. "Cy, have I ever gotten caught?"

"Well, no... but Izzy Izumi almost caught you!"

Sarie snorted derisively. "That nerd's so full of himself, he couldn't catch a wormmon, much less the Ryu."

Cy shook her head. "Talk about overconfidence..."

"What?"

"Nothing..."

At that moment a ball of brown-and-white feathers hurled itself at Sarie's head, squawking raucously. "Sariesariesarie, cheesecheesecheese!" It babbled insanely.

Sarie pried the ball of feathers from her head and held it out in front of her, not at all amused. "Savior, how many times have I told you, no cheese after dinner!"

"Zerglingfedittome, itwasveryverygood! Getmoreeasymac!"

"Zergling! You fed Savior easy mac??!" Sarie roared.

Zergling stepped through the doorway, elegant on her two raptor-like hind legs. Sharp inner toe-claws clicked irritably on the wood floor, and her spine-covered tail swished angrily. Her arched, raptorial neck bristled with extended spines, and her blue-green eyes were narrowed viciously. "I didn't feed it to him, he stole it from me. That's not the point I came down to make, though. We've got a visitor."

"What sort of visitor?" Sarie asked, quickly typing in an away message into her computer's instant message system.

"I don't know, but it's certainly not the pizza man. I don't think it's human."

"All right, let's go."

Sarie and her digimon padded upstairs to the front door where a very tall, skeletally thin being clad in a full-length black robe stood, leaning on a staff made of some polished white material. Sarie shuddered in revulsion as she realized that the staff was made of the twisted, broken leg-bones of a Birdramon, bound together with strands of Mammothmon hide. The being's breath came in wheezing, foul-smelling gasps, and when he spoke, his voice was like a thin whisper. "I seek the final three." It gasped, leaning towards Sarie.

"What final three?" Sarie coughed, backing away from the foul-smelling creature. "And who are you?"

"The final three elements," the creature intoned in a sing-song voice. "_Shard of ice from the arctic queen's cannons, spine of dragon-lord's helm, blade of the ninja king! Restore the death-lord's power, let both triplets run red with blood!_ _Fire consume earth, earth reduce sea to dust, sea drown the highest peaks in rage! Hark, angel-three! Thy doom is at hand!"_ The foul-smelling being cackled insanely, waving its macabre staff in the air.

"Sir, I don't know what you're talking about." Was what Sarie wanted to say, but instead archaic phrases crossed her lips, a challenge to the bone-wielding skeleton. "_Leave, death-lord, for the Angel-three live still and shalt not add to they foul power. The child of fate will bring thy doom to thee."_

The being stopped cackling abruptly, and his whole manner changed. With a roar of rage, he vanished. In his place stood a massive Machindramon, cannons powered and locked onto Sarie. "I serve the death-lord! I will spill the blood of the enemy!" It roared.

"Over our dead bodies!" Spat Zergling, beginning to glow a bright white. Savior and Cy did the same, and the three began to change shape.

"Zerglingmon digivolve to Malizerdramon!"

"Hawkmon armor digivolve to Shurimon!"

"Gabumon warp-digivolve to Weregarurumon!"

Zergling now stood three stories tall, and her head was encased in a smooth helmet of silver armor. Her spiked tail was wrapped in a spiral of gold, and her hand-claws had lengthened and fused into long, razor-sharp blades. Hawkmon had used the power of the digi-egg of sincerity to become Shurimon, a samurai digimon with coiled vines for arms and legs and vicious four-pointed shrukins for hands and feet. Gabumon had digivolved past her champion form into Weregarurumon, a deadly werewolf digimon with tattered jeans, spiked bracelets, and a nasty disposition. All three faced Machindramon fearlessly, teeth and blades bared.

Machindramon let loose a barrage of white-hot, heat-seeking missiles at the three digimon. Savior deftly dodged one missile and flung one of his star-pointed blades at it, exploding it high above the house. Cy stepped to one side of the second missile and grabbed it before it could re-target her. Snarling, she flung it high out into nearby Mammoth lake. A small tsunami wave knocked over several beach huts in the explosion, soaking vacationers. Zergling blocked the third missile with her bladed hands, then deactivated it with a short static burst. Then all three faced Machindramon, powering up their attacks.

"Garuru kick!"

"Twin Stars!"

"Tail Strike!"

All three attacked in unison. Savior's two shrukins hit Machindramon squarely in the chest, slicing through several hydraulics. Cy's clawed foot smashed into the mecha digimon's head, knocking him over. Zergling's tail strike was the final blow, rendering Machindramon senseless.

"Way to go, guys!" Sarie cheered as Savior and Cy returned to their rookie stages and Zergling returned to her champion stage. "Now I think we'd better get back inside..."

"What if he wakes up?" Cy asked, uncertainly prodding Machindramon's still form.

"We'll be long gone by then."

"Where are we going?"

"The digital world." Sarie said, heading back inside.

"What about your parents?"

"We'll leave a note."

Zergling shook her scaly head as she followed Sarie inside. "I don't think this is a very good idea..."

Just as Sarie sat back down at her computer, a bright silver something smashed through the ceiling onto the bed, leaving a massive hole in the bed's mattress and nearly scaring the fur off of the sleeping cat. The silver object then rose from the mattress, glowing and unearthly bright silver-purple color. The object was shaped like half of a globe, one side colored purple and covered in a soft, rubbery material. The other side was silver with a rectangular display screen in its upper half. The lower half had a few purple, oval-shaped buttons lined up in neat rows, and a curious symbol was etched into the lowest half of the circle. The symbol looked like a half-closed eye with a triangular pupil and three long lines extending from its lower half, one from the upper half. Sarie reached out and grabbed the object, which felt warm to the touch. When her hand touched it, the object began to glow a brighter color and let out a high-pitched whistle. All three of Sarie's digimon began to glow and, as the whistle grew higher in pitch, they grew taller. 

"Cy crest-activation digivolve to Diregarurumon!"

"Savior crest-activation digivolve to Holy Falcomon!"

"Zergling crest-activation digivolve to Matriarch Zerdramon!"

All three had reached new, much more powerful stages then they had previously been able to achieve. Cy had become something like a Garurumon, but with 3-foot-long canine teeth and silver-blue armor plates covering her hind legs and chest. Two cuffs of the silver-blue metal encircled her front wrists, and these sprouted long, knife-like spines that covered her front paws. Silver earrings dangled from her long, tattered, striped ears and thin metal rings covered her neck like ancient African tribal jewelry. 

Savior had grown in size to massive proportions. He was six feet long now from beak to tailtip. His razor-sharp beak was like an eagle's; The paired wings on either side of his back, four in all, were tapered and elegant like a falcon's. His main and secondary coverts were a blinding white, and the feathers darkened from there to a deep, molten silver at the tips of his primaries. Beneath those wings were a pair of muscular, gold-armored lions' paws. His hind legs were like a bird of prey's, with huge 1'2" talons at the ends of his long, scaley toes. His tail was broad with silver tips to each feather. Lightning seemed to crackle around him, beneath the feathers on his back, and through his talons and claws. 

Zergling had grown larger; She was almost 15ft tall now. Triceratops-like horns thrust out from above her narrowed, blue-green eyes and from above her flared nostrils. Two huge, dragon's wings fanned from her back, and her tail's spikes had lengthened to 2ft each. Her hands were broad and covered in spiky scales, and her claws were dangerously sharp.

Sarie was in awe. Her three digimon almost frightened her now, with their jaws snapping and energy rippling from their skins. The necklace she always wore, the only piece of jewelry she owned, rose from the neck of her shirt and began to glow also with a bright light. The intertwined figures within the circle of the necklace seemed to move and shift positions until they resembled a wolf, a raptor, and a hawk. Then the jewel at the center of the necklace took on the same curious eye design that was on the half-orb. Almost without thinking, Sarie lifted the half-orb to her computer screen and yelled, "Digiport open!"

Suddenly she was rushing along in cyberspace, the numbers 0 and 1 flashing by in endless streams of data. Beside her she could vaguely feel the presence of her three digimon, but realized that they, as well as she, were now computer data. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the transfer to the digital world stopped. Sarie fell with a thud into the top of a tall tree, sending leaves and Kunemon running for cover. Beside her hovered Savior and Zergling, and Cy stood on the ground beside the tree, grinning openly.

"We thought you'd be along soon." Came a voice from somewhere nearby.

"Who's there?" Sarie asked, struggling to right herself in the tree. A branch beneath her snapped, though, and she fell with an ungainly thud into a pile of fallen leaves at the base of the tree.

"I'm the 'nerd who couldn't catch a wormmon, much less the Ryu', to quote you," came the voice. Sarie, utterly mortified, turned to stare in openmouthed horror at Izzy Izumi. 

"I-i-izzy! Umm, that wasn't me! It must have been some... err... other person! Yeah, maybe my sister!"

"...you don't have a sister."

"Oh, yeah... please don't arrest me!" Sarie cried, groveling to Izzy.

Izzy sighed, exasperated. "We don't arrest people smart enough to access the Digital world. We hire them. Besides, you're a digidestined, and therefor destined to come here on your own anyway."

"Wait, I thought everyone was a digidestined now. I thought you and the other eleven were the last 'true' digidestined."

"Obviously, we weren't. Not everyone gets three digimon, and even fewer have crests and the power to incite digivolution. Right now, you and us twelve are the only crestholders out there."

Sarie picked herself up off the ground and brushed dead leaves from her jeans. "Why was I chosen, then?"

Izzy shrugged. "None of us know how true digidestined are chosen. Some of us think it's pure coincidence. I, however, disagree. I don't know what causes people to become true digidestined, but I don't believe it's pure coincidence." 

Sarie mulled that over for a while, one hand on her necklace in a gesture she always used when thinking. "One more question," She said after a few moments. "Who was that foul-smelling skeleton, and why was I brought here in the first place? Things look calm to me."

"We don't know all about the skeletal digimon, but we know a few things. It refuses to name itself, and it has the power to call up digimon from anywhere, at any time. The digimon it calls are all much more powerful than their normal counterparts, and once the skeleton finishes with them, they die. So far, none of these dead digimon's data has been reconfigured."

"But data can't be lost, only reconfigured, I thought."

"So did I, but it's obvious we were wrong. Someone's deleting digimon, permanently, and it'll destroy the whole digital world if it's not stopped."

Chapter 2

The number three

"So tell me again, why is three so significant?" Sarie asked Izzy as they walked towards a huge pyramid rising out of the digital world's jungles.

"Well, think about it. At one time, before we found out about you, the number of digidestined was a multiple of three. If you don't count Kari and T.K. because they were digidestined in the second group, there were six of us first. Then we added three true 'new' digidestined: Davis, Yolie, and Cody. The addition of Ken brought our number to twelve. You have three digimon, so there's another occurrence of three. Also, we've discovered a strange phenomenon. There are three linked digital worlds, and three linked real worlds. There's also a Dark Digital world, and there are three of those as well. We found the words 'Three times three' carved on the walls of these temples, but we can't decode the rest of the words."

"I'm pretty good at languages, maybe I can help." Sarie suggested.

"Maybe. Um, you might want to have your digimon go back to their rookie levels. It's a little cramped in here." Koushirou said, stepping through the low stone doorway.

Obediently, Cy became Gabumon, Zergling became Zerglingmon, and Savior became Hawkmon. Then Sarie and her digimon followed Koushirou into a tight, cramped, dark hallway. Dust stirred up by their footsteps caused Cy to cough, since she was so low to the ground. Sarie picked her up and carried her, now completely unable to see. "Zergling, how about some light?" She said quietly.

Zergling opened her jaws wide and formed a ball of flame in her mouth. She took the fiery orb in both claws and held it high above her head, providing illumination. Koushirou turned back and grinned guiltily. "Sorry, I forgot that you might have trouble in the dark. We've been down here so many times, we don't need light. There's a chamber ahead with torches, though. The others are waiting there."

After a few more minutes of walking in silence, they suddenly came into a massive stone room. Sarie had noticed that the passage they had just come through sloped downward slightly, so this room was beneath ground level. The room was at least as large as the pyramid's base: so huge that she couldn't make out the far wall in the gloom. One corner held thirteen stone chairs, and torches flared in wall brackets above the heads of eleven of the thirteen digidestined. Seated on the floor or on their owner's laps were the digimon, all at rookie stage except Gatomon who was perpetually a champion. 

Tai Kamiya stood to greet Sarie, Agumon by his side. "And here's our newest and youngest member. Have a seat, Sarie. We were just talking about you."

"Thanks," Sarie said quietly. She had never actually met any of the digidestined, who were all somewhat of a legend. They were all there: Yolie and Ken Ichijouji; Davis, the famous noodle chef; Kari Kamiya; Takeru, or T.K., Ishida; Matt Ishida; Cody, the feared and famed defense attorney, who had kept many innocent men out of jail; Mimi, producer of a famous cooking show; Joe, the world-famous digimon doctor; and Sora, as well as Tai and Izzy. 

"Someone seems slightly tongue-tied." Matt observed. Sarie blushed furiously; Matt had always been her favorite digidestined by far.

"Do you blame her? A half-hour ago she was trying to hack into the Digital world, and all of the sudden she's here with the twelve most famous digidestined of all time!" Davis shouted.

T.K. rolled his eyes. "He hasn't changed."

"It doesn't matter. We're all equals here, and we've got to work together to beat this darkness." Cody observed.

"Do you think this skeleton could be somehow a creation of a dark spore?" Ken asked quietly.

"I wouldn't discount that possibility," Koushirou said.

"Maybe Daimon's back from the Dark Digital world," Kari suggested.

"Could Daimon have been reduced to that emaciated figure she saw?" Tai asked.

"Maybe. We don't know what long-term residences in the Dark Digital world can do to a being."

"Enough speculation," Joe said suddenly. "Shouldn't we check out Sarie's fighting style so we won't interfere with each other if something comes up?"

"That's probably a good idea. I don't think we have the option to work out kinks in the plan if something bad does come up suddenly," Tai reasoned.

"Wait," Sarie said, rising to her feet, "What do you mean, 'kinks'? I fight just fine! My digimon defeated a Machindramon in a few seconds just half an hour ago!" 

"Hey, don't get indignant. What I meant was, with 15 powerful digimon fighting all at once, we need to know how each of us fights. That way we won't end up negating an ally's attack," Joe said placatingly. 

"All right," Sarie said, grumbling slightly.

"You'll be fighting a sort of illusion. It'll fight back, and it can hurt you, but you won't actually be fighting something real," said Koushirou, setting a grey metal square about 3 inches a side on the floor in the middle of the cave. "Now, do you have any preferences in what to fight?" He asked.

"No, just give me the biggest, baddest digimon you've got in that thing. We can take care of it," Sarie said boldly as her three digimon came to stand in front of her.

"She asked for it..." Koushirou shrugged. Then he turned to the other eleven digidestined, grinning. "Should we give her Sataskullmon?"

Tai grinned back. "Sure, she asked for the worst monster we've got."

Koushirou pulled another 3x3 grey square from his pocket. "Skullsatamon!" He roared, hurling the square towards the other one. As if by magnetism, the two squares joined perfectly in a stack. A bright red glow shone from between them, and suddenly they began to float apart, still directly above each other. From that glow came a red-boned skeletal figure with black, tattered wings and a glowing staff. Its white-on-black eyes narrowed evilly as it stepped from the glow. The two squares immediately fell back to the floor with a clatter.

"Cy crest-activation digivolve to Diregarurumon!"

"Savior crest-activation digivolve to Holy Falcomon!"

"Zergling crest-activation digivolve to Matriarch Zerdramon!"

Skullsatamon laughed insanely and flipped back from the three deadly digimon. "Nail Bone!" it roared, firing millions of needle-like bones at the three digimon. Zergling easily deflected them with her wings, then shot a huge, blue-white fireball at Skullsatamon.

"Matriarch Fireball!"

Skullsatamon reeled from the blow, but recovered quickly and attacked Zergling again. "Nail Bone!"

The attack came to quickly for Zergling to dodge, but just as the needle-sharp bones were about to hit, a flash of silver-blue dashed in front of Zergling and deflected the attack.

"Dire Shield!" Roared Cy, encasing herself in a glowing blue energy shield. Skullsatamon roared in rage as his attack was again deflected. Just as he was about to launch another attack, a ball of silver-and-white feathers smashed into him. Before he could get up, a golden ball of energy hit him squarely on the chest. 

"Angel's Ramming!" Cried Savior.

"All together now!" Sarie shouted, bringing her hand up. Her fist burst into silver flames, momentarily blinding the other digidestined and Skullsatamon. 

"Generation Howling!"

"Dove hunter's cry!"

"First Leader's Striking!"


	2. A dream?

  
Sarie brought her fist down swiftly, releasing a ball of silver energy at SkullSatamon that actually joined her digimons' attacks into one. Savior's bright white beam of energy wrapped around Zergling's fireball, and the sound waves that rippled from Cy's howl coalesced around both attacks, all laced together with silver strands of energy.   
The explosive force from the attack was tremendous. Not only did the blast shatter the false Virus digimon, but shattered the two holograph squares lying a few feet away. A huge crater was blown in the floor of the cave, and even the high-off roof had chunks blown out of it. Only the fact that the three digimon standing between Sarie and the other digidestined still had their shields up saved them. The huge crater only extended to their feet, and the massive rock chunks blown free in the explosion bounced harmlessly off the shield like toys.  
For a few minutes after the explosion, no one said a word. Davis was the first to break the silence.  
"Holy shit!" He laughed, staring into the mile-deep pit at their feet. Almost as if the pyramid itself was agreeing, a huge chunk of rock fell from the ceiling, allowing a beam of sunlight to penetrate the darkness. Immediately the other digidestined broke out in shocked, elated laughter.  
"I told you, Tai, she's good!" Koushirou said proudly, as if he had just blown the pyramid's insides out.   
"We should have done this outside..." Joe said plaintively.   
"She's got more power than the Dark Masters ever had!"  
"We can't lose now!"  
"How'd she get those stages on her Hawkmon and Gabumon? We could use those..."  
Sarie coughed politely and stepped forward from between her digimon. "I appreciate your admiration," she said, grinning, "but you'll never learn anything if you don't ask directly."  
The others looked slightly embarrassed, and a lot of polite coghing passed between them before they started laughing again.  
"You're right, we've been a team with no new players for so long, we've forgotten how to ask," Ken said. "So tell us, how did you get your digimon at such power levels, and how did you unite their attacks like that?"  
Sarie phrased her answer carefully before answering. "I don't know, exactly. It was just this feeling inside my head, like I knew I had to join Cy, Savior, and Zergling's attacks to make them more powerful. I've always been a psychic; I knew that since I was five. I figured the best way to unite the attacks was with psychic energy."  
"You're psychic?" Mimi asked, her tone unbelieving.  
"Yes, I am. Watch." She psychically raised a huge rock from the floor and threw it to the other side, her eyes glowing golden. Mimi shut up after that.  
Matt's question was next. "Tell me, how'd you get your Gabumon to digivolve to that form?" He asked, indicating Cy's massive countenance.  
"First, she's got a name. It's Cy. Second, I don't know. It's called crest-activation digivolving, and that's what they became when I first got my crest."  
"What is your crest?"  
I think Loyalty. At least, that's the impression I got when I received it."   
Tai nodded approvingly, then lifted an object from the rock he had been sitting on. "It's too bad I cut my hair," he said. "My goggles don't fit anymore." He held up the goggles, brushing dust and debris from them. "I think, maybe, you can find a better use for them than I can." He handed the slightly scratched, very old goggles to Sarie, who took them reverently. She put them on her head, backwards, her own style of doing things.   
"Thanks, Tai. Now being on your team, it'll be like having eyes in the back of my head!" She said, adjusting the goggles to fit more snugly.  
"I think we'd all better go home," Ken said quietly. "To sleep, I mean. And Yolie and I should check on the children."  
"Of course, Ken. Koushirou, the laptop?" Cody said, rising to his feet.  
"Right." Koushirou pulled out an ancient orange laptop covered in dents and scars, and proceeded to access the digiport to home. "Should we give the new member the honor of opening it?"  
Everyone nodded their agreement and, Sarie, knowing she was being watched, self consciously removed her digivice from her pocket. In a loud, clear voice with a hint of pride in it she shouted, "Digiport open!"  
The next thing she knew she was facedown on her bed, her digimon piled in a corner. "Was it all a dream?" She wondered, scratching her head.  
Then she felt Tai's goggles.  
This was reality.  
  
  
  



	3. Then there were twelve

The next few weeks were probably the hardest Sarie had ever experienced. She was on the phone and D-terminal constantly, discussing strategy and information about the threat to the digital world with the other 12 digidestined. As well as pure strategy information, she learned more about the digidestined than a lifetime of research could produce. Once, in a conversation about color-linked crests with Ken, she learned that he had been none other than the Digimon emperor. It seemed a touchy subject to him, but he willingly told her about his reign of terror and the final realization that what he did didn't cloud his future. She learned, while discussing the benefits of DNA digivolution, that Kari did have a darker side. She learned that Matt and Tai had been fierce rivals when they were younger, even though they were the best of friends now. She also learned many things about herself in those weeks.  
She knew now, for certain, that her crest was loyalty. She pondered this for days, wondering whether or not she was loyal enough to deserve the crest. Matt told her not to worry; he didn't live up to his crest for a long time after he found it. Cody told her he was sure she deserved her crest, or she wouldn't have it. Yolie perhaps gave the best advice of all.  
"I wouldn't worry about it much, Sarie. Some people understand their crests right away, while others take a while to figure them out. Whatever your doubts are about your crest, I wouldn't worry too much. I think you're pretty loyal, especially accepting all these responsibilities as a digidestined. I haven't heard you complain yet."  
Sarie's digimon were a huge help to her. As well as fighting in every battle she requested them to fight in, they proved their devotion to her by fighting for her, rather than because they had to. As the weeks went on, the four perfected the techniques of uniting their attacks and worked out a system for it. Sometimes, Sarie had discovered, it was better to use single attacks rather than combine them.  
It was another ordinary, hectic day when Sarie got her first serious call.  
The alarm bell sounded on her d-terminal, alerting her to a high-priority message from one of the other digidestined. She flipped open the screen cover and scanned her eyes across the message, her eyes growing more worries as she read.  
"Sarie,  
This is T.K. We can't find Kari. She's not showing up on her D-3, and Gatomon is with her. Come to the pyramid so we can form a search party."  
Sarie pocketed the d-terminal and called to her three digimon, who had been snoozing in the yard.  
"What's up?" Savior asked as he clung to her head.  
"Kari's missing," she replied tersely. "Digiport open!"  
All three vanished through the screen, not noticing the tiny dark spot in the corner...   



	4. Return of Darkness

"For all we know, she could be dead!" T.K. shouted angrily as the twelve remaining digidestined sat outside the ruined pyramid, discussing strategy. "We should be looking, not talking!"  
A worried frown creased Tai's brow. "Look, we've got to plan so another one of us doesn't go missing either."  
"By my calculations, all twelve of us searching a separate quadrant would make the operation go faster, if you don't object to us splitting up," Koushirou said quietly.  
"Yes, I do object, but if it'll get Kari back sooner we might as well try," Tai said, fists clenched.  
"I think we should make sure not to confront anything dangerous alone, though," Joe said cautiously. "If we get into trouble, we should be sure we can contact the nearest help source."  
"We'll spread out so that someone with a faster digimon is always within range," Matt said.   
"Who's the fastest?" Sarie asked.  
"It's not really a question of who's fastest. I think me, Koushirou, Sora, Davis, you, and T.K. have the faster digimon, plus they can fly. We'll spread out between the others, to search in a line."  
"Sounds good to me. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll find her," Tai said, a determined glint in his eye.  
Ken was completely silent as they all made final preparations, thinking. Yolie saw his concerned face and immediately went to him. "What's wrong, Ken?"  
"What if Kari went to the dark digital world?" Ken asked, concern showing in his violet eyes.  
"Why would she? The darkness vanished, remember?"  
"I still think someone should search there," Ken said adamantly.  
"Who? None of us have access there."  
"I still do. The dark spore, remember?" Ken said, smiling sadly.  
"Ken..."  
"Look, I've got to do this. I think that's where she is. Wormmon and I will be ok."  
"Fine, but you'd better keep safe, Ken. Don't think about the past."  
"I'll be fine. I promise."  
Finally, the preparations were made, and each digidestined digivolved his or her digimon to its highest stage. Ken spoke up just as they were about to leave.  
"I'm searching the Dark digital world."  
Davis looked down at him from Raidramon's back. "Why would you want to go there?" He asked.  
"I think she might be there."  
Tai shook his head. "Ken, it's to dangerous."  
"I know it's dangerous, but stingmon will protect me. Let me do this, Tai. What if she is there?"  
Tai shook his head. "Fine, but be careful. We can't lose another one of us."  
So eleven united digidestined set out to search for Kari, one more of their number separated from them. Tai had grave misgivings about the whole operation, but didn't voice his opinions to anyone but Wargreymon.  
Sarie, to search a larger area, rode on Cy's back between Zergling and Savior, so that she could see them both, but they could see further than she. As the line of digidestined crashed through the underbrush, scaring up flocks of biyomon and herds of unimon, they called Kari and Gatomon's names over and over, hoping for a reply.  
None came.  
Meanwhile, Ken had accessed the colorless, cold, depressing dark digital world, misgivings dogging his every step. Stingmon was in full attack mode, sensing something wasn't right.  
An hour into his search, Ken decided to take a break. He leaned against a dead tree, turning his thoughts to happier things than the missing digidestined. He knew the key to finding Kari lay in not succumbing to the almost seductive depression of the Dark Digital World.  
Just as he was about to stand, a white figure hurtled into his arms, knocking him backwards.   
"Ken! Get out of here now!" It was Gatomon, and she was terrified. Her eyes were wide in terror, and she panted heavily as if she had been running for hours.  
"Where's Kari?" He demanded, rising quickly to his feet.  
"She's coming. Ken, get out of here! We'll follow you!"  
"Not until you tell me what's going on. What's out there?"   
"Ken, just get out of here!"  
Suddenly, from deep in the forest, Ken heard a high, cold, chilling, familiar laugh.  
  
The eleven searchers had just finished a sweep of the digital world, turning up nothing but their own voices echoing back to them. "We've got to do another sweep," T.K. said.  
"Where's Ken, maybe someone should help him," Sarie suggested, sweeping her wind-blown hair out of her eyes.  
At that moment, Ken burst through a tear in the fabric of the digital world, his eyes wide, his mouth open in a silent scream. Kari, Wormmon, and Gatomon followed closely behind, obviously frightened, but not as much as Ken.  
Yolie immediately went to him and held him up, feeling his arms shake. "What happened? What's wrong?" She asked fearfully.  
"Why... why... not again..." He moaned, ignoring everyone around him.  
"What's he babbling about?" Mimi demanded.  
"Yeah, what did you guys see in there?" Sora asked, glancing towards the shaking Ken.  
"I'll tell you in a minute. We've got to get out of here now!" Kari shouted, tearing free from T.K.'s arms. She leaped onto Nefertimon's back, turned around, saw everyone staring at her, and glared at them all. "Are you deaf? We're all in danger!"  
"Just tell us..." Cody began, but he never finished his sentence. From the tear burst a red-eyed Tyrannomon, then a Roachmon, a Mojyamon, a Drimogemon, a Digitamamon, and many others, all with dark bands around their limbs. Ken stared in absolute horror as they came, marching, like deamonic toys, only to be followed by a worse apparition.  
The last beast to emerge from the tear was an Airdramon with a black band around its neck. Upon the evil Airdramon's head was a blue-cloaked figure, his dark blue hair spiked up, a wide grin beneath his eyes covered by dark glasses. Golden shoulder guards covered his upper arms, and his cloak was split into two segments at the bottom.  
And, of course, they all remembered him.  
"That's impossible!" Davis roared, looking between the Digimon Emperor and Ken, who was shaking even more violently and staring up at his other self with a mix of horror and fascination.  
  
  



	5. Enter: The Kaizer

"Tail Blade!"  
"Double Stars!  
"Metal Wolf Claw!"  
"Wing Blade!"  
"Positron Laser!"  
"Cat's eye beam!"  
"Garuru Kick!"  
"Terra Destroyer!"  
"Aqus Beam!"  
"Gold Rush!"  
"Flower Cannon!"  
"Vulcan's Hammer!"  
"Horn Buster!"  
"Ninja Wind!"  
14 massive digimon fought hard on the field, pitting their abilities against the most powerful foes they had faced. Digmon again faced off against Gekomon, Imperialdramon against SkullSatamon, Shurimon against Ninjamon.   
And all the while, Ken sat with his head between his hands, unmoving.  
"Ken, get up, we need you!" Imperialdramon roared as he finished off SkullSatamon. Ken remained unresponsive.  
Cy kicked a huge Seadramon towards Ken accidentally, nearly hitting him, but even when Garudamon buzzed overhead to catch the seadramon, he didn't move. It was Yolie, of course, who snapped at him first.  
She stalked up to Ken, ignoring the earth-shaking fireballs, ice blasts, and tornadoes whirling around her, and slapped him hard across the face. "Stop sitting there like a dazed cow and get up and fight! It's just an illusion!"  
Ken looked up at her, deep despair written in his eyes. He obeyed, however, and stood beside his wife, trying to look away from the Emperor.  
Slowly, ever so slowly, the thousands of evil digimon pushed the digidestined backwards, and their digimon began to lose strength. Eventually, Imperialdramon couldn't hold up the DNA digivolution and devolved back into Wormmon and Veemon, who didn't have the strength to get back up to fight. Next, Gatomon and Patamon fell, nearly getting trampled by Mammothmon in the process. Then Armadillomon, Palmon, Hawkmon, Gomamon, Tentomon, Biyomon, and finally, Agumon, Gabumon, Cy, Zergling, and Savior. As the evil hordes rushed in to finish the job, Izzy had just enough time to scream "Digiport open!" saving the thirteen humans and their digimon from slavery and death at the hands of the returned Kaizer.  
The next day, Sarie, Sora, Ken, Yolie, Matt, T.K. and Tai gathered in a small pizza place out of the way of general public. Tai arrived late, having to put huge amounts of paperwork through to temporary close public access to the digital world. Kari couldn't come because she couldn't get a sub to teach her class. Mimi was in L.A., filming a special addition of her show, so she couldn't get to Japan to meet the others. Joe was in surgery on a SabreLeomon with a collapsed lung, a victim of the recent violence in the digital world. Cody was in court, arguing a case, Izzy was working on a downed hard drive, and Davis was filling a large order of noodles for a business. Sarie, although she lived in California, was able to get to Japan by following Matt home through the digiport.   
"It's always this way lately," Matt said morosely. "We're always separate."  
"It's not like before, where all we had to worry about was school. The digital world is in-sync according to time with the real world now, so we can't spend weeks there anymore." Tai tapped his fingers on the table, thinking. "If only there was some way to change the time ratios."  
"Izzy told me that was impossible," Sarie said quietly.  
Tai nodded, sighing. "You know, I don't even understand computers very well. I remember once," He laughed, "Izzy said his laptop wasn't working, so I hit it for him."  
"If I remember correctly, you hit that poor laptop more times than you hit me," Matt laughed.  
"Remember Diaboramon, and Izzy tried to explain a satellite modem to me? I had no clue what he was talking about, and I still don't."  
"He tried to drink those veggie shakes your Mom made, remember?" Sora giggled. "I bet he never touched a milkshake again."  
"And you guys, fighting over a hair clip?" Matt said. "Now that was funny."  
"This is all good, this reminiscing, but we're not defeating the illusion any faster," Ken broke in.  
"We need to keep up our spirits, Ken. Laughter is usually the best medicine." T.K. ran his fingers though his blond hair, his blue eyes troubled. "But you're right, we're not getting anywhere."  
"Why does this bug you so much, Ken," Sarie said, "If it's just an illusion?"  
"Because, I don't know if I is. What if I caused him to return? Remember, I killed thousands of Digimon, enslaved thousands more, and ruined lives. It's not easy to forget that sort of thing."  
"But it seems you're forgiven, and that was more than ten years ago. You've proven you didn't mean to cause so much pain."  
"It's still hard, to watch what I did, like a movie of my life."  
"The sooner we defeat this illusion, the sooner you can realize it's not your fault," Sora said firmly.   
"The real problem we're facing is a problem of numbers. When we faced him... sorry Ken..." T.K. cast a guilty look in Ken's direction.  
"No, it's ok. The problem is, when I tried to conquer the digital world, my troops were spread out. You could defeat a few at a time to keep the numbers down. Now, it seems like the whole army was there, and we only defeated about 30 of them. I remember, I had at least 2,000 separate digimon. 500 Megas, 1,000 Ultimants, 500 champions, and at least 500 rookies. His forces are concentrated," Ken said slowly, keeping his face neutral.  
"We need to discover the force behind this. If we can neutralize that, the rest should be easy," Tai said.  
"It's the skeleton, isn't it?" Sora asked.  
"Maybe. If h can summon digimon, can he summon people as well?"  
"It would make sense," Sarie said.  
"Let's go back to the digital world, just a few of us, and see what we can find. I don't have much to do now, since the public access is closed. You don't have school, right Sarie?"  
"Yeah, it's summer break until August, and I don't have anywhere to go."  
"T.K., are you free for a few days?"  
"Yeah, I'm just a writer. I can suspend the books for a week or so."  
"Ken and Yolie, how about you?"  
"Well," Ken said slowly, "Since this is a case involving the digital world, I think I should be able to work in it..."  
"I should stay home and watch the children."  
"Matt?"  
"I've got to start training for a new mission in a few weeks, but I'm good for this week."  
"I think we should take Izzy along, too, since he's the expert on computers," Tai said. "Everyone, go home and pack some cloths. We're taking a camping trip to the digital world."  



End file.
